Meaning: and give you respite · Also translated as: He gives them respite, You postpone us, We delay, We delay it
Forms in the Quran
يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ×3
أَخَّرْنَا×2
وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ×2
يُؤَخِّرَ×2
أَخَّرْتَنَآ×1
نُؤَخِّرُهُۥٓ×1
أَخَّرْتَنِ×1
أَخَّرْتَنِىٓ×1
Its root in the classical dictionaries
آخر يقابل به الأول، وآخر يقابل به الواحد، ويعبر بالدار الآخرة عن النشأة الثانية، كما يعبر بالدار
الهمزة والخاء والراء أصل واحد إليه ترجع فروعه، وهو خلاف التقدم. وهذا قياس أخذناه عن الخليل فإنه قال: الآخر نقيض المتقدم. والأخر نقيض القدم، تقول مضى قدما وتأخر أخرا. وقال: وآخرة الرحل وقادمته ومؤخر الرحل ومقدمه. قال: ولم يجئ مؤخر مخففة في شيء من كلامهم إلا في مؤخر العين ومقدم العين فقط. ومن هذا القياس بعتك بيعا بأخرة،…
Hast thou not turned
Thy vision to those
Who were told to hold back
Their hands (from fight)
But establish regular prayers
And spend in regular Charity?
When (at length) the order
For fighting was issued to them,
Behold! a section of them
Feared men as
Or even more than
They should have feared God:
They said: "Our Lord!
Why hast Thou ordered us
To fight? Wouldst Thou not
Grant us respite
To our (natural) term,
Near (enough)?" Say: "Short
Is the enjoyment of this world:
The Hereafter is the best
For those who do right:
Never will ye be
Dealt with unjustly
In the very least!
If We delay the penalty
For them for a definite term,
They are sure to say,
"What keeps it back?"
Ah! On the day it (actually)
Reaches them, nothing will.
Turn it away from them,
And they will be completely
Encircled by that which
They used to mock at!
Their apostles said: "Is there
A doubt about God,
The Creator of the heavens
And the earth? It is He
Who invites you, in order
That He may forgive you
Your sins and give you
Respite for a term appointed!"
They said: "Ah! ye are
No more than human,
Like ourselves! Ye wish
To turn us away from
The (gods) our fathers
Used to worship: then
Bring us some clear authority."
Think not that God
Doth not heed the deeds
Of those who do wrong.
He but giveth them respite
Against a Day when
The eyes will fixedly stare
In horror,—
So warn mankind
Of the Day when the Wrath
Will reach them: then will
The wrong-doers say: "Our Lord!
Respite us (if only)
For a short Term: we will
Answer Thy Call, and follow
The apostles!"
"What! were ye not wont
To swear aforetime that ye
Should suffer no decline?
If God were to punish
Men for their wrong-doing,
He would not leave, on the (earth);
A single living creature:
But He gives them respite
For a stated Term:
When their Term expires,
They would not be able
To delay (the punishment)
For a single hour, just as
They would not be able
To anticipate it (for a single hour).
He said, "Seest Thou? This is
The one whom Thou hast honoured
Above me! If Thou wilt but
Respite me to the Day
Of Judgment, I will surely
Bring his descendants
Under my sway
All but a few!"
If God were to punish
Men according to what
They deserve, He would not
Leave on the back
Of the (earth) a single
Living creature: but He
Gives them respite
For a stated Term:
When their Term expires,
Verily God has in His sight
All His servants.
And spend something (in charity)
Out of the substance
Which We have bestowed
On you, before Death
Should come to any of you
And he should say,
"O my Lord! Why didst
Thou not give me
Respite for a little while?
I should then have given
(Largely) in charity, and I
Should have been one
Of the doers of good".
"So He may forgive you
Your sins and give you
Respite for a stated Term:
For when the Term given
By God is accomplished,
It cannot be put forward:
If ye only knew."